Pro-choice groups protest Jackson fundraiser

RICHMOND – Planned Parenthood activists protested outside a fundraiser for GOP nominee for lieutenant governor E.W. Jackson Thursday to highlight what they said were a series of divisive comments he has made over the years.

Jackson, a Chesapeake-based minister who is pro-life, once said Planned Parenthood, a pro-choice women's health advocacy group that provides abortions, is "far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was."

Twenty protesters gathered outside the Marriott Hotel in downtown Richmond where Jackson was feted at a private fundraiser sponsored by the General Assembly's Senate Republican Caucus. NARAL-Pro-Choice Virginia and ProgressVA helped Planned Parenthood organize the protest.

"He has said more outrageous and offensive things than imaginable," said Cianti Stewert-Reid, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.

"The fact that he would link Planned Parenthood to a well known, violent hate group is simply shameful. The Senate Republicans should denounce this kind of divisive and offensive rhetoric. Instead, they are holding a fundraising luncheon in his honor."

Outside of the private fundraiser Jackson did not back away from statements he has made, but did qualify them. He said many of the statements Democrats and their political allies have highlighted were made in his role as a minister. Jackson is the founder of the Exodus Faith Ministries church in Chesapeake.

"I'm running for lieutenant governor, not pastor," Jackson said. "So I'm going to stay focused on jobs and economic opportunity. The sorts of things that will impact all the citizens of Virginia."I intend to reach out to those black citizens, Hispanic citizens, single mothers, poor people – help them understand why the policies we will advance will help them to live better lives."

One of the Jackson quotes read by protesters was made in May 2012 when he was running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Jackson came in last in a four-way primary race.

In a piece posted on the Peninsula Tea Party website Jackson attacked then Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Kaine for supporting the federal Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have required equal pay for women.

"Equal pay measures add nothing to the dignity and equality of women," Jackson said. "In fact it may make some businesses leery of hiring women for fear of the litigation that may eventually result."